Co-Independent
by suckitaynrand
Summary: Grace and Frankie have hit rock bottom, will they be able to pick each other's pieces up and put each other back together?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 **Grace**

Sold.

Her house. _Their house_ was sold.

And the worst part was she didn't know how to get it back.

It took one look to her best friend, with tears rolling down her cheeks to know that she would get that house back.

" _Grace."_ Frankie sobbed.

Her heart stopped. Why was she just sitting here doing nothing? Frankie leaned her head on Grace's shoulder. She could feel her own tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'll get it back. I will. I _promise."_ She choked out.

Grace felt the hitch in Frankie's breath. She looked at Frankie as she slowly lifted her head up iff her shoulder. She immediately felt cold. She expected Frankie to say something. _Anything._ But she wouldn't even make eye contact with her. Looking anywhere but at Grace.

"I-I'm going to call someone. I'll be right back."

She slowly rose from her chair and made her way down towards the water. _It was better if Frankie didn't know who she was calling_. That's what she old herself. As soon as she took her shoes off and the cool water washed up onto her feet, she let the tears fall. _I'm so confused. How could this happen? How could I have stopped this? How could I have been so stupid?_ She picked up her phone and pressed the home button. The lock screen picture was of her grandkids. More like zoomed in on her grandkids. The original picture was of Mallory, Brianna, Coyote, Bud and all off their other "clan members". Everytime she looked at the photo it made her sick. Everything except the grandkids. A picture of her grandchildren was respectable, right? But her home screen, protected by her password that not even Frankie knows, was all hers. A perfect moment captured forever that she could gaze upon everyday. It was a picture of her and Frankie, sitting on the beach chairs at a family get together. Maddy had just gotten a new IPod and was eager to take a picture of everything she could get her hands on. She just happened to get a picture of Frankie smashing a s'more into Grace's mouth. Grace had her eyes closed and her part of the picture was blurry, but Frankie. She was smiling her beautiful smile and it was as if she was glowing. She could look at it for hours on end. But right now she couldn't _Call. Get it over with. He'll understand._ She pressed the button for Nick.

"Grace!" He exclaimed.

"Hi Nick."

"Oh my gosh, I-I missed hearing your voice! I actually have something to tel;-"

"Nick, the kids sold the house." She tried hard to hold back a sob

Silence.

"Fra-Frankie and I left Walden Villas. The kids tricked us… I-I don't know how to explain it without sounding crazy I-"

"Grace, I believe you."

"Yo-You do?" She sobbed.

"Sweetheart, we need to talk. Can we meet tomorrow for lunch?"

"I would like that."

She made arrangements and hung up. _This is a good starting point. It'll be ok._ She still had no idea what to do about Frankie. What would she tell her? That things will work out? No, they needed to take baby steps. She walked back up to Frankie, whose face was red and still had tears running down it. She was nervously braiding her hair, but when she saw grace quickly undid it and sniffed and wiped her eyes. She stood up and walked over to Grace.

"Did you um… get anything?" She asked quietly.

"I'm working on it. What stuff do you have on you? I have my wallet and my phone."

"I um… I have an old debit card, let's see… not expired. I'll check the balance."

"That's ok. We're going to the store."

"Wait Grace… why are we going to the store."

"To get the bare necessities, because we are staying at a hotel. Because our kids are little shits who tried to trick us. Keep up, Frances."

She meant to make the mood lighter, but it just seem to make Frankie more sad. She turned away and Grace heard her sniffle.

"Oh, no Frankie I didn't mean-"

"Oh, yes you did. Sorry for asking." She said looking into Grace's eyes.

Grace took time to look at Frankie in this moment. To _really_ look at her. She looked exhausted. THere were dark circles under her eyes, and her frown lines were more visible. Grace suspected she looked the same. She reached out to grab Frankie's and, but she had already grabbed her phone to call an Uber. Grace waited until she was finished.

"They'll be here in 8 minutes," She said quietly, "Sit down… your knee."

Instead of defending herself, she just sat down.

"Grace… for Frig's sake get up! Our driver is here."

Grace woke with a start. _How the hell did I fall asleep?_ She looked for Frankie, but she was already walking up the steps to the road. She followed her into the car.

"Where to ladies?" The driver said.

"Um… the nearest Macy's please." Grace said.

She reached for Frankie's hand, something that happened a lot these days. When the gesture wasn't returned, she realized Frankie had her head leaned against the window, and her breathing was slow. She had fallen asleep. She grasped on her hand anyway, and ran her thumb back and forth. It was comforting, she realized. Just to be connected.

They reached Macy's soon enough, she gently nudged Frankie awake and she groggily climbed out of the car.

"Meet me back here in half an hour. Bare necessities. Two or three outfits at the most." Grace said, lacking any form of firmness in her voice.

She waited for a reply, none came. Frankie was already halfway down the aisle. Grace sighed and moved to her section. Two shirts, Two pairs of jeans, A bra and underwear were in her cart in 15 minutes. _15 more minutes. 15 more minutes until step 2… a hotel._ She grabbed makeup and toiletries and she stopped to get some food as well. She checked out and waited for Frankie.

"Grace… over here. Uber's here." Frankie called to her from across the parking lot.

She hurried to the car, put the stuff in the seat beside them. Once they reached to hotel, she put all the things on a luggage cart and checked in. Once they were up to their room, she took the bed closest to the bathroom, and started putting her stuff in the closet. After she and Frankie put everything away, Frankie started mindlessly flipping through channels.

"I'll go back tomorrow. I'm going to break the lease. Step 3." She said.

"Oh… so there's an instruction manual to this situation."

She would've chuckled. But she was too tired.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 **Grace**

She fell asleep quite soon after that. The events from earlier tired her out quickly along with the hot shower. She didn't know how long she had been asleep until she heard a door open and the shower head sputter to life. She laid back down on her pillow, and pulled the covers back over herself. The steady sound of the water hitting the bottom of the tub was enough to coax her into a light sleep. But above all that she heard sniffing. The sniffing quickly turned into stifled sobs. Grace quickly sprung out of bed and ran into the bathroom.

"Frankie! What happened are you okay!?" She panicked.

She was cut off with a small wail that shattered her heart into two.

"I'm-I'm so sorry Grace, I-I'm so sorry." She sobbed.

"Frankie, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I-I just-" Frankie's voice rose in pitch.

"You don't have to tell me right now, Frankie. Just… just feel the hot water, let it relax you. You'll feel better. When you're finished, I'll be right on the other end of this door and we can talk, I promise. Okay?"

"Okay… Okay. Yes, I'll do that." She sniffed.

Grace slowly walked out of the bathroom, but Frankie's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Finish it off… please?" She said in a voice so small that Grace wasn't actually sure it was her or just a voice in her head reminding her of their normal tradition.

She slowly turned around just as Frankie pulled back the edge of the shower curtain. Her blue eyes were mixed with tears and water from the shower. Her long hair spilled over her shoulder and dripped water onto the floor. Grace cupped her face in her hands and brought her head to her shoulder. Frankie shuddered and relaxed against her. Grace gently pulled her back and looked into her defeated eyes.

"Frances, I promise."

Grace pressed her lips to the other woman's forehead. She pulled Frankie to her shoulder once more and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. _Just one more. For insurance._ She pulled back and put her hands around her neck and kissed just underneath her eye. She squeezed Frankie's hand and walked away.

"Take your time, Frankie."

She shut the bathroom door behind her and sat on her bed. Her heart felt heavy. She had seen Frankie upset before, but never that much. _What was she sorry for? What could she have done that was so bad?_

She was lost in thought when she heard the bathroom door open. Frankie came out wearing one of the hotel's fluffy white robes and shut the door behind her. She leaned against it with her eyes closed. Grace got up and wrapped her arms around her best friend. Frankie buried her head in her neck and let out a soft whimper. Grace could feel tears in her own eyes.

"Sit down with me." She whispered into Frankie's ear.

Grace led her to the bed and pulled her in beside her. She ran her fingers through Frankie's damp curls. The other woman melted into her touch.

"Talk to me." She said quietly.

"I feel so guilty." Frankie choked out.

"What do you have to be guilty for?"

"This… This situation. I feel responsible, I-" Grace cut her off by whirling Frankie around to face her head on.

"Frankie. Oh, Frankie. If I ever hear you say that this is your fault again I will fucking lose my shit. It's **MY** fault I didn't get my knees taken care of right away," She pointed frantically at her own chest and her other hand was clenched firmly on Frankie's shoulder. "It's **MY** fucking fault I hired those bastards who stole our pipes. Hell, we might say it's the kids' fault for Walden Villas, but it's **MY** fault I believed the kids' shit in the first place! Everything that has happened here is **MY** fault!" Her voice increased in volume, and so did the tears now dripping onto her shirt.

Frankie's lip trembled. "I feel like I should have been better at handling it. I should have continued giving you shit about your knees until you finally went to the doctor earlier. I should have not believed the kids either. And most of all, I shouldn't have been irresponsible at the post office and with Faith."

"No, Frankie. I take full responsibility for this. **NONE** of this is your fault. Okay, well losing the key to your mailbox might be your fault but you are did everything you could to get "alive" again. The incident with Faith was just one of those freaky, once in a lifetime things that just happens. I know you, better than I know myself and I know that you would **NEVER** let anything happen to that little girl."

Grace clutched firmly to Frankie's hands and looked her straight in the eye. "I'm sorry that I didn't handle these things like I should've and that I got us here in the first place. I am so, so so _sorry._ I will do everything I can to get things back to the way they were. I will not let you down on this Frankie. I _promise._ "

Grace once more leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Frankie sniffed and chuckled and pulled Grace into a hug. They stayed like that for what felt like forever. _If only we could never leave this spot_ Grace thought, remembering her plans for tomorrow. Frankie yawned against her shoulder. Grace pulled the covers back and motioned for Frankie to get in. She turned off the TV and the lights. She pulled herself into Frankie and wrapped her arm around her, burying her face into her hair. _It's usually the other way around._ Grace thought. But tonight she felt like Frankie needed protecting. Grace wanted to make sure nothing would stomp on her delicate heart. Frankie's breathing evened out, and hers did the same.

"Goodnight Frankie, sweet dreams." She whispered.

Although it was dark, Grace saw the smile that illuminated Frankie's face as she turned her head sleepily towards Grace and murmured,

"Goodnight, my sweet Grace… my sweet girl."


End file.
